Home/News/GRK Infra AS won a EUR 30 million road construction contract

GRK Infra AS won a EUR 30 million road construction contract

The Estonian subsidiary of Graniittirakennus Kallio Oy, GRK Infra AS, has won a competition for the Tallinn -Tartu motorway project. The contract comprises 11.2 kilometres of new 2+2 lane motorway.

The improvement and expansion of Estonia’s transport infrastructure is currently proceeding well. GRK Infra AS is participating actively in infrastructural projects supporting this aim. The motorway presently being built between Tallinn and Tartu is the most significant of these projects. In January 2018, construction will commence on the next section of the new 2+2 lane motorway, measuring 11.2 kilometres.

– The soil has a low load-bearing capacity on this section. A layer of peat covers the weakest three-kilometre stretch. The peat, as well as the moraine and clay masses, must be replaced by load-bearing earth fill. The total amount of earth masses to be exchanged amounts to no less than 1.4 million tons, says Tarvi Kliimask, managing director of GRK Infra AS.

Kliimask considers it a major accomplishment to have won the bidding competition of the Estonian Road Administration. All the major infrastructural contractors in Estonia were involved in the contest. – The price race was very tight, but we won it decisively, Kliimask says.

Mass exchanges and new bridges

GRK Infra AS is allowed 32 months to complete its winning contract. But Tarvi Kliimask aims to complete his job ahead of time. To this aim, adequate resources must naturally be marshalled. – The average manpower strength of the site will be about 50 people. The crew at the site will be almost 100 % Estonian. If necessary, we will bring some supplementary manpower from Finland, says Kliimask.

The mass exchange will require a major part of the time worked at the construction site. According to Kliimask, all the masses will be replaced by November-December 2018. Since the timetable is tight, despite the 32-month overall time schedule, some tasks will be done by overlapping. Building of some bridges will start in March 2018, while mass exchanges are under way for other sections of the construction site. The pavement works can be started in 8 to 12 months after the masses have been replaced at those sections.

These complications have of course been taken into account in the time schedule. On the other hand, the project will be expedited by doing much of the excavation work in the wintertime, specifically at the soft sections. In winter, digging is often easier, because the frozen ground gives better support to the machinery, Kliimask explains.

In addition to massive earthmoving, mass exchanges and the five new bridges, the project includes the construction of an “aqueduct” or wildlife underpass for elks and other mammals.

All in all, our contract is very important, giving us an even stronger foothold in the construction of Estonia’s infrastructure. The contract also creates continuity to our recently expanded order backlog, which includes an ongoing tunnel project in Tallinn, Tarvi Kliimask explains.